1.20.2016

As I mentioned last week, January has taken off like a rocket, with so many activities to focus on as Black people. Having just completed Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Holiday commemorations and Day of Service, this is no time to rest on our laurels. With the passing of Dr. Frances Cress Welsing into the status of Ancestor Angel, there will be home going services in Washington, DC., while others, who have studied her and other great Black leaders, will b coming together in Philadelphia to consider how to continue her legacy.

For those of you who would like to pay your respects in person, a bus from New York to Washington DC to attend the home going services of Dr. Frances Cress Welsing is being organized for Saturday, January 23.

"The Classic Poem Below has been the traditional wisdom but is it a correct depiction of the conflict between these two leaders? Is it time to put the matter to rest?" - Curtis McIntosh

"Booker T. and W.E.B."

"It seems to me," said Booker T.,"It shows a mighty lot of cheekTo study chemistry and GreekWhen Mister Charlie needs a handTo hoe the cotton on his land,And when Miss Ann looks for a cook,Why stick your nose inside a book?""I don't agree," said W.E.B.,"If I should have the drive to seekKnowledge of chemistry or Greek,I'll do it. Charles and Miss can lookAnother place for hand or cook.Some men rejoice in skill of hand,And some in cultivating land,But there are others who maintainThe right to cultivate the brain.""It seems to me," said Booker T.,"That all you folks have missed the boatWho shout about the right to vote,And spend vain days and sleepless nightsIn uproar over civil rights.Just keep your mouths shut, do not grouse,But work, and save, and buy a house.""I don't agree," said W.E.B.,"For what can property availIf dignity and justice fail.Unless you help to make the laws,They'll steal your house with trumped-up clause.A rope's as tight, a fire as hot,No matter how much cash you've got.Speak soft, and try your little plan,But as for me, I'll be a man.""It seems to me," said Booker T. --"I don't agree,"Said W.E.B.

[A little historical note, here - WEB duBois was pitted against Booker T. Washington and later Marcus Garvey - and the white meanstream media made a big deal out of it - using all part of their divide and conquer tactics. Later DuBois realized that whenever whites gave a Black man favorable space in their headlines, it was because they were using you to block your own people from progress - rather sad, isn't it, that he and Marcus Garvey could have worked together and made it possible for millions of Black people to return home to Africa and help rebuild it and wrest her from the hands of racist colonial monsters. DuBois himself ended up expatriating from America to Ghana, where he apologized for what he had done - about 60 years too late. I admired all three of these great Black men - Booker T. Washington started Tuskeegee Institute, after having worked his way through Hampton by scrubbing the floors of Virginia Cleveland Hall. He also helped establish 5,000 Black schools throughout the US. Yet ignorant people want to call him an Uncle Tom. Marcus Garvey taught Black people to really do for themselves - how to start their own businesses and work together - yet we trot him out on special occasions, but don't folly any of his teachings or examples in this modern time. And WEB DuBois, one of the greatest Black minds ever, showed Black people their own magnificence; studied first hand the evil effects of racism on Black People (Philadelphia Negro), and how we were the finest minds ever - Talented Tenth. It's great to discuss it, but it's even more important to be about it. Hopefully after the discussion, will finally come IMPLEMENTATION!]